Article turner



Sept. 23, 1947. D, SUMMERS y l v 2,427,933

ART I CLE TURNER Filed March 29, 1945 5 Sheets-Sheet 2 INVENTOR. D11/eef .SUMME/ea. BYe/)zdct #NORA/E Ys Patented Sept. 23, 1947 UNITED STATES PATENT ovl-"FICE Darrell Summers, Pana,`1ll.

Application March 29, 1945, Serial No. 585,432.'

This invention relates to an improved article turner. In the manufacture of many articles such as gloves and mittens, the article is made inside-out or in unturned condition and must be turned to produce the iinal article in marketable form. My invention relates to an apparatus for accomplishing such turning and while it is particularly adaptable for turning gloves, mittens, and the like, the principles of the invention may also be adapted for turning other articles such as belts, ties, etc.

The turning of such articles by hand and even the turning of the articlespartly by hand and partly by machine has been done in the past but was a costly and time-consuming operation. Machine article-turning apparatus even of the semi-automatic type that has been used has many disadvantages. Such previous machines have been cumbersome and not speedy enough to :be adaptable for turning large quantities of articles in mass production. Furthermore, such machines involve complicated mechanical apparatus using cams, gears, levers, and other mechanical parts which are slow-acting and tend to wear out and also are expensive to manufacture.

It is an object of the present invention to provide a machine overcoming these objections wherein the turning operation is quickly accomplished, readily adaptable to mass production and the apparatus is simple and cheap to construct.

One of the principal objects of my invention is to avoid the use of mechanical actuating parts and to use cylinders actuated by compressed gas such as air. Furthermore, this invention provides the utilization of a .compressed gas circuit whereby the timing of the coacting and successively acting movements, for accomplishing the turning quickly and readily, are obtained without using complicated timing mechanism such as gears, cams, and the like. This is accomplished by causing the relative movement between the several mechanical actions by using compressed gas such as air to actuate the first mechanical movement and then using the compressed gas exhaust therefrom to actuate the second cooperative and succesively acting mechanical movement. The point of withdrawal of the exhaust gas from the cylinder actuating the first movement controls the timing of the actuation of the second movement.

It is a further object of the invention to provide a device for turning at least four fingers at a .time of a glove wherein female unturned-nlger-receiving members are arranged to reverse 3 Claims. (Cl. 223-40) their .position when urged by opposing male turned-article-receivingy members so that they will correspond to each other when holding the ngers therebetween during the turning of the glove from the-female member onto the male member.

A more specic object of the invention is to provide a simple, substantially automatic device for quickly turning an 'article such asa belt; or a single linger or thumb of a glove where, due to the thickness in construction in the article, it is not feasible to turn four iingers of a glove at one time.

It is also an object of the .invention to provide means including springs toobtain quick returning actionsof the several-mechanical movements actuated bythe compressed gas after the article is turned in order Ato speed the action of the device to make it adaptable for mass production. Y

A more specificV object of the invention is to provide a female unturned-nger-receiving member adapted to turn only the endof the glove nger when urged by the male member to facilitate the second step wherein the complete turningris accomplished land at the same time provide means for preventing injury to the end of the ngers suchfas the ripping of the seams during such turning of the end of the iingers.

Other objects, .advantages, uses, and applications of my article turner will become apparent by referring to the drawings in which Figs. 1 and 2, taken together,Y show in `perspective one modification of my glove turner for turning four ngers at one time. Fig. l shows the lower portion of the device, including the femalerunturnedarticle-receiving members. Fig. 2 shows the upper portion of the device, including the male turned-article-receiving members which are 0D- posed to and aligned with the female members shown in Fig. 1.

Fig. 3 shows in perspective the back side of the device illustrated in Figs. 1 and 2 and shows the arrangement ofthe pipes for the ow of the compressed 4gas which actuates the mechanism.

Fig. 4 is a detailed and longitudinal sectional view of one of the female unturned-nger-receiving members. v.

Fig. 5 is a flow diagram showing the flow of air pressure or other. compressed gas to actuate the air cylinders. and also shows the cross-sectional vieW of the air cylinders.

Figure 6 is a .perspective viewv of the device showing means vfor turning only one linger of a glove atatime.

Referring to Figs. 1, 2, and 3, an iron U-frame I attached to support 2 is used for mounting of the device. Male turned-glove-receiving members 3, 4, 5, and 6, xedly attached in header 1, are provided. A rod 8 is attached to the header 1 and to rod 8 is attached piston rod 9 which is actuated by compressed air by a piston in the cylinder I0, as will be described later in more detail. A spring II is. provided between the rod 8 and the cylinder head I2 for cushioning the contact of the male members with the female members. The cylinder I Il is attached to the frame I by brackets I3, the brackets being further supported by the supporting rods I4. A

compressed gas such as air enters the cylinder Ill through pipe I5 and actuates the piston which in turn forces the male membersin a downward direction toward the female members as will be more fully described later. A spring I6 flxedly attached to the cap Il and attached to the piston in cylinder Ill is provided for Quick disengagement fof the male members after the glove has been turned upon them.

Female unt'urned-article-receiving members I8, I9, 2U, and 2I are provided and over them the unturned glove is placed for the turning operation. Member 2| which is the. little linger is rigidly attached to the headers 22 and 23. Members I8, I9, and 20 are journale'd in the headers 22 Yand 23 to permit anv up-and-down movement when urged by the 'male members. When not so urged by the male members, the female members are held in the position shown in Fig, l by springs 24 and .there is one spring attached to each end 25 of the members IB, IB, and 2'IlJ although only one spring is shown andthe others are not shown since it is-a cutaway View for the sake of simplicity. The members I8,` I9, and 20 are held in`the relative positions shown by the collars 26 which abut against the lower edge of the header 23. I After the glove is placed upon the members I8 to 2l, "inclusive, compressed air forces or urges the male members-'3 to 6, inclusive, in the direction toward the'female members and it is obvious thatthe "male rmember `Il first contacts and engages vthe glove-nger-u'nturned 'member I9 and,thereby` pushes the female member I9 downwardly until the collar .ZTabutS against the upper face ofthe header 22. Likewise, as the next male member 5 urgesV `feinale member 20 downwardly/and male 'member v3 urges female member `IB Ydownwardly, 'collars 28. and 29V stop their clciwnward movement-"against header 22 'so thatmeinbers I8, 'I'Spand 20`r'everse their relativepositions to Aconform withthe configuration of the male member's to'B, inclusive, and thus hold the glove therebetween"inrposition for turning. Apiston 30 extends slightly above the edge of each female'member,a s shown, and its function will be described morefullyin connection with Fig. 4.V

A U-shaped article'turning member 3 I having attached thereto two L-shaped-members 32 on the inside, as shown, are provided as a means for catchingthe gauntlet or the wrist'part of the glovefor turning the glove over thefemale members as the glove is held betweenfthem, which is 4the manner in which thegloove is'turned. The U-shaped member 3l is attached to block 32v and a piston rodr3v3 is attached to anair-driven piston in cylinder 34 and. its 'action ,willv be described more particularlyin connection with the descriptiono Fig, 5. A spring 315 Visprcvided between the block 32 and the head of the ,cylinder 34 to cushion the stroke of the piston. In order to provide for a quick return of the article turner 3l after it has turned the glove and after the air has exhausted from the cylinder 34, a spring 36 attached to the block 32 at the point 3l' is provided. Spring 36 is attached to a chain 38 which is attached at point 39 to a rod 40 which is fixed to the base frame 4I holding the cylinder 34. An upper bracket 42 also holds the cylinder 34 in place and there is providedsupporting rods 43, as illustrated. A plate 44; bolted to the frame I and iixedly attached to the headers 22 and 23 is provided for supporting the female members.

A foot control three-way valve 45, attached to the base plate 2, is provided for actuating the two cylinders, The pipe 46 is connected to any convenient source of suitable compressed gas such as a compressed air cylinder. Pipe 41 is a vent to the atmosphere. The operation of this three-way valve will be described later.

Referring to Figs. 2 and 5, an exhaust pipe .48 is connected to the cylinder Il! and through that exhaust pipe air enters the bottom of the cylinder 34 at point B0 and such exhaust air is used to actuate the lower cylinder which, in turn, actuates the glove-turning member 3I.

Fig. 4 is a longitudinal-sectional view of one of the female members I9 and the others are similarlyconstructed. Piston 30 is provided, extending slightly above the tdge of the female member and is concave at the upper end, as shown at 50. A rod 5I is attached to the piston and as the piston is driven downwardly when urged by the male member 4, it can go no farther in the member I 9 than the distance between the bottom of the ro'd 5I at 52 and the stop 53. A spring 54 is provided to cushion the downward stroke of the piston. An unturned linger placed over the member I9 is held in place by the corresponding male member 4 during turning; also, as the male member 4 is urged downwardly, it turns the tip of the finger and Vsince the piston can go no farther than the stop block 53, it cannot tear out the seam or the end of the finger. In general, the piston extends above the member I9 and'can only be driven into member I9 about the same distance as it stands above. The total travel of the piston is only about one-half inch, although this can be Varied depending on the type of article being turned. After the rod'52 strikes'the block 53, the male member 4 forces the female member still more in a downward direction until its downwardmovement is stopped by the collar 21 in orderto provide for the proper positioning of that member for the turning operation.

Fig. 5 isa flow diagram showingy the travel of the air through the system and the manner in which it exhausts and actuates the piston inthe cylinders I0 and 34. Cylinder I 0 is constructed havingl a leather cup 56 for forming the seal and against which the air pressureactuates. This is a conventional form which is commonly used in air cylinders of this type. As previously described, a spring I 6 is attached at point 5'! and to cap Il for providing a quick return of the piston after the glove is turned. A spring 58 is'provided to cushion the downward stroke of the piston. An exhaustfpipe 59 always open to the at- :monsphere is provided to prevent any back-pressure of air in the cylinder duringits downward stroke. The air enters cylinder I0 through line I5 and after the leather cup 55 passes the outlet pipe 48, the air pressure flows through pipe 48 vided for cylinder 34. The rod 9 is the driving id for the male members, kasshown in lSig.` 2

and the rod'33 is the driving rod for the articleturner 3| shown in Fig.` 1.` Similar to the. ar-

rangement for Fig. 5, an exhaustpipe 6Iv always open to the atmosphere is provided for cylinder 34 to prevent any back-pressure during the upward stroke -of the piston. It is apparent that any desired timing effect can be obtained for actuating driving rod 33, depending upon the position of .the pipe 48 attached to the cylinder I0. In this case, the piston in cylinder I forces the male member downwardly until all th'e female members are driven downward until stopped by the collars 21, 28, and 29 when the air leaves cylinder Ill through pipe 48 and enters cylinder 34l which forces the rod 33 upwardly and thereby actuates the glove turner 3| which catches the gauntlet or wrist portion of the glove and turns the glove from the female members onto the male members. By this time, the foot pedal 55 has been released and the line I5 is open to the atmosphere through the line 41 and the piston in cylinder Ill urged by the spring I6 is drawn upward which disengages the male members holding the glove fingers against the female members and after the .leather cup 56 passes the inlet to the pipe 48, the

compressed air from cylinder 34 will exhaust back into the cylinder Ill and out through the eX- haust pipe 59. This arrangement of the return of the exhaust from cylinder 34 avoids the necessity of providing complicated check valve on cylinder 3K4 or else a separate return line to 45.

Referring to the foot valve 45 in the position shown in Fig. 5, the line l5 connects to the line 41 so that the system is always open to the atmosphere and ready for operation. The operator pressing down on the pedal 55 closes off the connection of the pipe I5 and pipe 41 and connects the pipe I5 to pipe 46 to which is attached a source of air pressure.

In summary, the operation of the device described in Figs. 1 to 5 is as follows: The four ngers of a glove such as a leather glove in unturned condition are placed on the female unturnednger-receiving members I8, I9, 20, and 2|. This is the only manual operation of the device. The foot pedal 55 is then pressed and air flows thro-ugh the pipe I5 into the cylinder I which results in forcing downwardly the male members 3 to 6 so as to successively contact female members I9, 20, I8, and 2|. As each female member is successively contacted the fingers are firmly held therebetween and the-pistons 30 are pressed downwardly turning the ends of the glove fingers. As soon as the members I8, I9, and have their positions reversed to correspond to the male members, the air leaves cylinder I through pipe 48, actuates the piston in cylinder 34, which drives upwardly the glove-turning or article-turning member 3| which catches the gauntlet or wrist portion of the glove pulling it up over the female members I9 to 2| onto the male members 3 to 6. At this time, the spring I6 has returned the piston 51 past the entrance of the pipe 48 and the air exhausts through the line 48 from cylinder 34 to cylinder Ill and to the atmosphere line 59 and the springs 36 attached to the article turner 3| quickly return the article turner to its original position. Then the glove readily falls off the male members and the operation is ready for repetition. The system shown in Fig. 5 is an important feature of the glove turner and such a flow of air to actuate successively several cooperative mechanical movements has many applications, as is readily apparent. Such a system may be used flO yjob. i

anywhere a plurality of successive mechanical movements must cooperate to accomplish a nal Fig. 6 shows a devicefor turning one finger at a time. Iny general, `the operation is similar to the operation described for Figs. 1, 2, andv 3 and therefore I Will use the same numbers for indicating comparable parts.` A single male turned-article-receiving member 62 actuated by the piston incylinder -lll is provided. A female unturned-iinger-receiving member I'b3 is provided which is constructed in a similar manner to that illustrated and described in Fig. 4, having the piston 56 serving the same function as previously described.v The essential difference in this modiflcationis vthat in place of the U-shaped article-turning member 3|, shown in Fig. 1, a sleeve 64 attached to the header 65 through connecting rods 66 is provided for turning the finger. The unturned finger of a glove unit is placed on the female member 63 and the foot pedal 55 actuated for driving male member 62 in a downward direction until it contacts piston 50 thereby engaging the finger in between and turning the end of the fingers as heretoofre described. The sleevelike member V64 is then actuated by the cylinder 34 and forces the nger up over` the female member 63 onto the male member 62 thereby turning it in the same manner that four fingers were turned at one time in Figs. 1, 2, and 3.

While I have described several modifications of my invention, it is understood that my invention is not limited to such modifications since any other device within the scope of my invention may be used. My invention is only limited by the following claims.

I claim as my invention:

1. An article turner comprising a female unturned-article-receiving member, a male turnedarticle-receiving member aligned with and opposed to the female article-receiving member, means including compressed gas for moving the male member towards the female member to hold the article in position during turning, means including compressed gas for actuating an articleturning member associated with the female member for turning the article from'the female member onto the male member while firmly held between rthe male member and the female member, means including a spring for moving the male member away from the female member after the article is turned, and means including a spring for returning the article-turning member to its original position after the article is turned.

2. A glove turner comprising a female unturned-finger-receiving member, an opposing and aligned male turned-finger-receiving member adapted and arranged to be moved toward the female member so as to hold the finger in place between the female member and the male member during turning, a piston in the female member and normally extending slightly above the female member and movable to a position slightly inside the female member to permit the male member to engage and hold and to force to a limited extent the end of the linger into the female member to turn the end of the finger without harm to the finger of the glove, and a movable sleeve around the female member adapted and arranged to move toward the male member, while the finger is so held and partially turned, to complete the turning of the finger.

3. A glove turner for turning at least four ngers at one time comprising female unturnedfinger-receiving members, opposing and aligned between the male linger members and the female finger members, means including compressed gas for actuating the male finger members and the Vling'er-turning member, and means including springs for disengaging the male finger members from the female finger members andv for Vreturning the nger turning member to its originaif position after the glove is turned.

DARRELL SUMMERS.

REFERENCES CITED `rThe following references are 'of' record in the file of this patent:

Number Name Date 1,735,688 Lowry Nov. 12, 1929 1,771,521v Baum July 29, 1930 

